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Ginger beer, ginger ale and ginger wine, ginger biscuits and gingerbread, ginger marmalade and ginger flavouring of a dozen kinds, to say nothing of metaphorical ginger used (or at least advocated) in various walks of life — all pay tribute to our delight in this strange, fiery foodstuff.

There are people who think that the grapefruit is the result of a man‐made cross between orange and lemon, but in fact it is a natural fruit, the largest of the citrus tribe. Recent research into its origins suggest that it may well be a natural mutation from the pear‐shaped, coarser, bitter shaddock, or pomelo. Occasional ‘sports’ from established species of the citrus family are not uncommon, and in this case, the result has been of particular benefit to man.

Famed for many centuries as perhaps the best thirst‐quencher of all fruits, the lemon has a long history but one which nevertheless does not extend back to Ancient Greek and Roman times. The true origin of the lemon is uncertain, but it may well have been a natural hybrid of the citron and the lime, from which it differs in both shape and thinness of rind. It reached Europe by way of the North African countries and Spain between the ninth and eleventh centuries.

After Europe's beef and butter mountains and wine lake — what next? The answer would seem to be an olive oil lake. EEC officials confidently predict that olive oil will become the next huge surplus beneath which the Community is all set to be submerged. It already has 70,000 tonnes accumulated in store which has flooded in during recent years from the Common Market's three million olive growers, most of them Italian.

The ability to write books is only rarely accompanied by exceptional powers of remembering the written word, either one's own or that of other authors, nor is it always linked with the gift of swift yet thorough reading of books and printed matter generally. But it is hardly surprising that the great memorisers and the phenomenal readers have nearly all been connected with the world of letters.

Vinegar, like wine, is one of the most ancient of natural fermentations known and used by mankind. The word itself derives from the French, vin, ‘wine’, aigre, ‘sharp, sour, tart’, so ‘sharp wine’ is an accurate description of this long‐valued liquid. As well as adding zest to food and aiding its preservation, as in pickling, vinegar has from the very earliest times been firmly believed to have strong medicinal value as well.

Pepper is the king of the half‐dozen or so true spices — the ‘aromatic substances of tropical vegetable origin, that make dumb dishes eloquent’ — on which the fortunes of whole nations have been built. It is still the one single spice in greatest demand and the recent local shortages of pepper have merely reflected a trend of the demand for this unique substance exceeding world supply, which is part of its long history.

The pedigree of most of the vegetables on our plates could accurately be given as ‘by perseverance out of weed’. For long centuries of selective plant‐breeding have brought uselessly straggly natural weeds to the plump and tasty foodstuffs of today. But the process has not ended. Indeed, to the original perseverance might now be added ingenuity, since scientists are working hard to produce new‐style veg. that better suit modern needs. Here are some progress reports.

By diehard tradition, rice pudding is supposed to be a dull dish, but who can doubt that it is elevated to a much higher level of tastiness by one simple addition — grated nutmeg. The wise cook respects and admires the delicate aromatic sweetness of this always much‐treasured spice, for it has many other uses and is perhaps most widely used in French kitchens. It will enhance the flavour of white cream soups if grated over them in the bowls immediately before serving. It blends well with parsley and chives for poultry or meat stuffings, especially if the finished product is destined to be served cold. The list of foods or dishes that respond to the addition of nutmeg, usually in ground form is long and perhaps endless: all milk puddings and custards, doughnuts, ice cream, egg‐nog, creamed or soufflé potatoes, creamed spinach, Brussels sprouts, stewed fruits, biscuits, spice and fruit cakes, cheese sauce and asparagus, which is especially fine when served with melted butter, crumbled hard‐boild eggs, and grated nutmeg.

Did you know that the brilliant Hungarian scientist, Professor Albert von Szent‐Györgi, who won the famous Nobel Prize for Medicine, discovered the unsuspected vitamin C content of that most unlikely of food substances — the fiery red spice paprika? That was in 1937, and since then the world consumption of paprika has risen considerably. Almost all countries now use many times the quantity they did thirty years ago.